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Judge Goes Where Governor and Legislature Fear To Tread
Justice Lucindo Suarez took a bold step February 5 when he judicially imposed a rate of $90 an hour for assigned counsel. The decision in New York County Lawyers' Assoc. v. The State of New York, 102987/00, followed a 16-day bench trial held last summer at which 41 witnesses testified. The judge's lengthy opinion admonished Governor George Pataki and New York's state legislature for failing to raise assigned counsel rates since their last change in 1986.
In recent years, the rates for counsel assigned to represent family court litigants ($40 per hour for in-court work and $25 per hour for out-of-court work, with a per-case cap of $1200) have offered little incentive for attorneys to take on such employment. For example, the court noted that at the time of trial, the administrator of the First Department law guardian program had stated that there were approximately 65 active attorneys available but that she would need 325 panel attorneys to adequately staff the assigned counsel needs of the intake parts in Family Courts in the Bronx and New York Counties.
These insufficient numbers, Justice Suarez noted, resulted in denial of counsel to Family Court litigants who, because of their lack of knowledge of the system, often fail to provide the court with adequate information from which to make decisions. 'Immediate court intervention is required in many of these cases,' the court stated, 'including abuse and neglect or child protective cases that concern the removal of a child from the home, juvenile delinquency cases where juveniles are held in custody and domestic violence cases where victims' personal safety is at risk.'
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.